The present invention relates to a system for locking and unlocking a gun, such as a pistol or rifle, to prevent a person from firing an unlocked gun when he or she has not been authorized by the gun owner to do so.
The aforementioned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/763,951, filed Feb. 11, 2013 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,893,420) discloses a gun lock system which uses a “smartphone,” such as an Apple “iPhone,” with a suitable application (“phone app”) as an “electronic key” to unlock a gun. The smartphone transmits biologic identification (“BioID”) data about a person to an electronic lock on or in the gun which, in turn, matches it with pre-stored data and unlocks the gun if a proper match is found. This system allows only the gun owner (or some other person who is licensed or otherwise authorized), who has originally supplied their BioID data to the gun lock for storage, to use the gun. The system is difficult to compromise and yet allows the gun to be unlocked by any smartphone that can collect BioID data and transmit it to the gun. This system avoids the problem of unlocking a gun when the user's smartphone has been lost, stolen or broken or has been replaced by a new one, because any smartphone with a suitable app may be used as the electronic key.
With this system, as with any system for locking a gun for security purposes, the gun may be operated and fired by an unauthorized person once it has been unlocked by an authorized person. As an example, an unauthorized person might grab an unlocked gun away from the gun owner and use it against him or her in a hostile situation such as a burglary. It would be desirable in such situations to prevent a previously unlocked gun from firing.